Artwork
Satan Smiting Job with Boils
Satan Smiting Job with Boils is an ink print by the Romanticist artist William Blake. It dates from 1825 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
William Blake’s 1825 print, titled *Satan Smiting Job with Boils*, is an engraving executed on thick paper. The composition portrays the biblical episode in which Satan inflicts Job with painful sores, a moment drawn from the Book of Job. The work belongs to the later phase of Blake’s artistic production, when his visionary and prophetic subjects were a dominant focus.
Subject & Meaning
The image captures a kneeling Job, his limbs outstretched, his flesh covered in eruptive boils that convey acute suffering. Above him hovers a winged, haloed figure identified as Satan, poised to deliver the affliction. Blake’s choice of this scene underscores his preoccupation with themes of divine testing, human endurance, and the paradox of suffering within a spiritual framework.
Technique & Style
Executed with fine cross‑hatching, the engraving employs dense line work to model flesh, cloth, and background, creating a sense of texture and depth. Bold, expressive strokes give the figures a muscular vigor, while the dark, turbulent backdrop heightens the drama. Blake’s characteristic symbolic visual language is evident in the stark contrasts and intricate detailing.
History & Provenance
Created in London, where Blake lived and worked for most of his life, the print emerged during the final decade of his career. It forms part of a broader series of prophetic and biblical images that Blake produced in the 1820s, reflecting his sustained interest in scriptural narratives and personal mythology.
Context
The engraving aligns with Romantic-era concerns about the individual's inner experience and the sublime aspects of nature and the divine. Blake’s integration of poetic imagination with visual art places the work within his larger project of merging literature and illustration to explore spiritual and moral questions.
Artist & collection
Artist
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter and printmaker.
